Fools

• Format: Manuscript
• Language: English
• Published: 1969
• Subjects: English language > Dialects > Newfoundland and Labrador; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/elrcdne/id/27117

fools n The Fools were one of the great Christmas institutions in the city, as persistently perennial as the season itself. For the time being they held right of way on Water Street, Middle Street, and the streets uniting them. In processions and in detachments they made things lively for other pedestrians, whom they banged over the head and shoulders with inflated bladders. The fools wore masks or thick veils. Their heads were crowned with triangular hats made of cardboard and covered with wallpaper, or gigantic cocked hats adorned with a profusion of glittering metallic spangles and gaily coloured ribbons, and terminating at the top in two or three points from which issued plumes. Sometimes a small model ship took the place of points and plumes, and quite an amount of ingenuity and artistry were expended in designing and decorating this extraordinary headgear. They usually wore white starched shirts and no coats, the shirts being plentifully bedecked with ribbons. From before Christmas till Old Christmas Day, called Twelfth Day, they held high carnival. PRINTED ITEM DNE-cit Used I and Sup Used I and Sup Used I SLIP CONTENTS ALL USED IN DNE UP UNTIL THE WORD 'PLUMES'